1965 to 2005
I am an anti-government person. Meaning that the less Government interferes in an average Joe’s life, the better. AK, I tend to see things differently but the more I inform myself, the more I am learning that we as a country have been moving down a road that leads to no-where.
I heard Senator Mary Landrieu state that she thinks the President “doesn’t get it”, that he is not comprehending the devastation. I am in disagreement with her, I think he comprehends the destruction; I just don’t think he knows what the hell to do about it. Does anyone reading this blog think that he should just hand over a blank check to our esteemed leaders? I’d rather get nothing from the Feds than let Blanco, Nagin, Jefferson, Vitter, et all line their own pockets or the pocket of their friends. You may disagree, just the way I see it at this point. And this is leading somewhere I promise.
WYES-TV is back and has been airing some of the classic New Orleans programs. I became very intrigued watching New Orleans in the 60’s about Hurricane Betsy. I was born in 1967 so I missed her and the stories that followed (except for the levee’s being blown up, we’ve all heard that Betsy tale). How many of us know the history of Betsy and the city’s situation at that point?
Betsy hit Grand Isle on September 9th 1965 as a category three storm. She pushed the water from Lake Ponchatrain into the city, breaching the Florida Ave Levee and flooding both the 9th ward and Chalmette. People were trapped in their attics, trying to ride out the storm. At least 70 lives were lost within the city. It took 10 days to get the water out of the city, with close to 170,000 homes lost to the flooding. Sound familiar?
There is much more info about Betsy that I will not bore you with. Suffice to say, the city has been through something like this before and the city did overcome the destruction. The big difference between Betsy and Katrina is the way the city’s residents handled the aftermath. Did Washington DC give Louisiana a blank check in 1965 to rebuild? No they did not. They did establish the Hurricane Protection program in use today with the US Army Corps of Engineers. There was no FEMA but there was an office of Emergency Preparedness along with the Red Cross and the SBA.
The main thing that I have found is that residents were not sitting around for the Federal Government to ride in on a white horse and rebuild our city. The city was rebuilt by the everyday Joe’s and Jane’s of New Orleans. We as a people, not just those in New Orleans but all Americans have been “brainwashed” to think that the Federal Government must be the ones to solve our problems. Then when they fail or they do not have the answers, we want to point fingers and wonder “where’s mine”. You want to know where’s yours? It’s there for the taking if your willing to work for it. If you’re waiting for the Federal, State or Local government to save your ass, to rebuild your life, to make you whole again- it ain’t happening. If you want to get back to New Orleans, if you want to be whole again your going to have to do it yourself.
It was done in 1965. 40 years should have has us being a more independent people that do not rely on government to live our lives. Instead we’ve become reliant on handouts. Are you willing to rebuild your own life or do you need someone to show you the way? I’ll give my own life my own shot, thank you very much Uncle Sam.
Related posts:
Kudos, Dan, for pointing the way forward right now. The only problem I can see right now is that FEMA is playing with the flood maps. If they decide to boost base flood elevations significantly, it will put a lot of people in a tight spot. Many have gutted their slab-foundation home at substantial cost and would have to look at either raising the slab or not having flood insurance for the next time we flood. Of course, if they don’t raise the base floodplain elevations, the houses will go swimming again eventually. It’s just a matter of time. The fact that they are screwing around taking months to make a decision that a five year old could make it thirty seconds is just another sign of where Federal bureaucracy leads to. And remember, folks: these are the people who want to be your only source of healthcare in the nation! Keep up the good fight tho Dan.
That which we are, we are. One equal temptest of heroic hearts, made weak by time and fate, made strong in will. To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yeild
-Alfred, Lord Tennyson
What a great post! You must not be from New Orleans to think in this manner…read the other post by Chris Martel for Feb 1st. to see the difference - as you so brilliantly stated, “If you’re waiting for the Federal, State or Local government to save your ass, to rebuild your life, to make you whole again- it ain’t happening. If you want to get back to New Orleans, if you want to be whole again your going to have to do it yourself.”
These other whiners just don’t get it!!!
I agree with your message in principle, but I believe you are missing the point. Many are framing the debate as Louisiana “begging for a handout.” It’s true that this state needs reform, and must be more self-reliant. But - and I know you didn’t mention this specifially but it is the main concern here - Levees and flood protection are Federal responsibilities.
I’m no fan of big, welfare government by any means; but in a civilized society government has a primary mission: The safety and well-being of it’s citizens. Without that we drown in an “every man for himself” nihilism, metaphorically similar to the anarchy we saw in the aftermath of the storm.
Federal funding is essential for Category-5 flood protection. No private business or individual can fund such a massive undertaking. Also a Baker Bill type program to reimburse those who lost homes and want to rebuild on higher ground is a moral imperative. As tax-paying citizens we deserve to have such security so we can live where we please: one of the most unique cities in the United States.
Of course it will be everyday Joes & Janes who will rebuild this city. Look around, it is already happening. And it’s what we need more than ever; a hardworking, self-reliant populace who will add to this city’s character and soul; not leeches who drain it’s resources and give nothing in return. But will they get the hand up (not hand out!) to rebuild their homes? And when they do will the levees be there to protect them?
I ate my first crawfish at three, thats where Im from. I wasn’t really commenting on the governments response, more the way we see things differently then we did 40 years ago.
As an aside, the radio station had a FEMA rep on one of our local shows today. We got a call from someone from Texas, residing currently in New Orleans, with a strong latino accent, asking the FEMA rep if he could get a trailer even though he didn’t live here BEFORE Katrina.
Even our illegal aliens expect a government handout. How crazy is that?
For your information “John” I am rebuilding my own house with my own two hands and my own money. I’m not waiting on the government for a handout nor do I think others should. I am all for self reliance and individuals taking this upon themselves. Unlike Betsy, Katrina decimated our city’s healthcare system, schools, transportation infrastructure, and many of the other services we expect from government. And the city & state simply do not have the resources to rebuild them. The feds promised to assist in rebuilding these things “better than before” and to this point they have not made good on these promises, nor does it seem like they have any intention to. That is the reason we’re “whining” — because Bush stood in our city and flatout lied to us. I’m not asking for a welfare check, but you know, it sure would be nice to have a hospital I could go to if I get injured. Is that too much to ask?
Amen Chris. Since we’re on the subject of self-reliance, why don’t we as a region follow the spirit of your post and leave the union. We probably have enough oil revenue to handle our own business. The Republic of Orleans has a good ring to it.
What’s the point of being part of the USA and paying taxes if we can’t even get basic flood protection? We’re constantly being told by autonomous conservatives that we don’t need government. Fine, if we don’t need you then give me my goddamn taxes back. Don’t use them to force democracy into some Middle East hellhole while my city limps into oblivion.
hey party people….they have committed money to the levee’s remember?
http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/HurricaneKatrina/story?id=1410629
There is a certain amount of self-reliance that is necessary. And in terms of public perception (outside of the affected area) the debate needs to be reframed. Right now, the citizens of the rest of the country, who felt the pain of the city during the first days of the crisis, is viewing the city as inept, corrupt, and begging for a handout. But this public perception needs to be reframed by your politicians and the way that they represent themselves and the city/ state to a national audience in the press and before Congress. Bush doesn’t mention it in the state of the union, because he knows that the region continues to support him (generally) despite the chaos that his government has created in its response. Bush doesn’t mention New Orleans because he knows what the public perception is in the rest of the region. Somehow, the mayor, governor, senators, etc. don’t understand this.
Yes there was federal money for the levees, and that money was mishandled. Why isn’t there a single levee board to oversee the competent construction of all levees? But was that money enough? Certainly not. There needed to be more funds devoted to levee protection.
The problem with that funding and the current debate is this: your politicians are a joke. Your senators and representatives have no clout on the hill, where the money would be and could be rolling down from. They are young, inexperienced, and have no seniority on their respective committees. This is what happens when you don’t be careful and watch your vote. Unfortunately, it is the everyday citizens who have to pay the piper.
As an aside, it is pretty clear that the money to build the levees properly, restore the coast, abandon MR GO, and assist everyday citizens with rebuilding or relocating to other parts of the city would be there if we weren’t sending billions a day to Iraq.
I completely support giving all the money needed to the region to rebuild, but only when the funds are earmarked for specific purposes and projects. Money will disappear otherwise.
Chris: The items you mention (schools, transportation, healthcare, etc) are all LOCAL government responsibilities!
“And the city & state simply do not have the resources to rebuild them.”, you state. So, why does the rest of the country have to bail you out? We are paying our own taxes for our own local services, plus a war, plus medicare, plus welfare, etc,etc,etc.
So Bush lied to you - he’s lied to all of us! At least he hasn’t stolen from you - just look at what your local politicos have been doing to you for all these years!
Look elsewhere for a handout! The rest of the country is tired of the whining!
“This is what happens when you don’t be careful and watch your vote”?
So were we supposed tie Breaux, Tauzin, Boggs, Johnston, etc. down and force them to stay in Washington? Its not really the voters’ fault that our senior representatives decided to retire–that’s more of an issue with time you have.
All of this BS about “Louisiana politicians are corrupt, that’s why they aren’t helping us” is pure bunk. There’s a reason why the rest of the country thinks that: its easier for them to go to sleep at night with that belief rather than with the knowledge that thousands are clinging desperately onto their dignity, because that’s all we have right now. Y’all need to really look into yourselves and understand the scope of this tragedy. This is not a “politics” problem or a “Louisiana” problem. Its a human problem and the way the country deals with it will have profound effects on everyone’s future.
I read on nola.com that ironically, the river levees designed/built shortly after the Flood of ‘27 and primarily maintained by the local levee boards held. Those lake levees and floodwalls designed more recently by the Corps failed. I think there is plenty of blame to go around. It’s unfair to solely finger the levee boards, although they need an overall to be sure. It was just 12 years ago that the levees all along the upper Mississippi and the tributaries failed and I don’t recall any one pillorizing their levee boards. (Ahh - here’s one article, but there’s another one I can’t put my finger on. http://www.nola.com/news/t-p/frontpage/index.ssf?/base/news-4/1137999658140350.xml))
Louisiana does have a bad reputation as far as corruption - but so does the federal government. It’s not like Louisiana invented pork-barrel politics and bribery - we just perfected it. ;-) I think it’s a little disingenious and sanctimonious for people to tsk tsk Louisiana about its politicians when there are others, in much more powerful positions, who make Edddy baby look like an amatuer. (Can we say DeLay, Abramoff, the entire Ohio republican party?) Also, the Congressional delegation is not that young and inexperienced - Landrieu was elected originally in what - ‘96? Many of the House members are incumbents; I think the bigger issue is the SIZE of the delegation - 7 House members just don’t have the same cache’ as 52 (California’s delegation strength) And while I’m ranting, basing your vote on incumbency (the root of seniority) is an ascinine proposition - you should only vote for people who have been in there a long time, even if they are corrupt or ineffectual? Yeah - that’s a GREAT solution. Geesh - we’d have an entire Congress of old white men who think segregation wasn’t that bad. :-P
BTW, the money is disappearing - into the pockets of contractors and subcontractors that are coming into the region from all over the country to take advantage of the situation. Local and regional suppliers and contractors are being shut-out of the large scale projects while companies like Haliburton are getting HUGE contracts for jobs they are not qualified to perform. (I know this for a fact - my husband’s company in Memphis, 300 miles upstream, was asked to submit a proposal to do some environmental assessment and clean-up work by HALIBURTON. Why? Becuase Haliburton got a massive no-bid contract for the work even though they employed NO ENVIRONMENTAL ENIGINEERS OR SCIENTISTS! They had to subcontract it out. There are dozens of more qualified local and regional environmental firms that should, and could, have done the work, but they were shut out.
Even if we weren’t in the boondoggle of Iraq, I don’t think the situation would be much different. Bush continuely refers to the Gulf Coast as “that part of the world,” as if it’s not really part of the United States. Apparently, to him New Orleans is a giant bar and strip joint. As long as he can revisit his old haunts and dealers, there’s nothing really wrong. Who needs schools or hospitals as long as Pat O’s is open. The region did back him fairly strongly in 2004, but I think that’s changed a bit since September. Then again, I could be wrong. We’ll see in November.
Yes, its up to the Joes and Janes, but in many cases it looks alot like its more the Joses and Juaitas that are actually doing the rebuilding.
My point was not to base your vote on incumbency. My point was to find effective and qualified leaders who can actually put a sentence together, elect them, demand that they serve with integrity, and keep them in office.
And as far as the local problems go, if this was pre-Katrina, I would suggest an overhaul of the state property tax system. That’s how the rest of the country pays for these local services. However, Katrina throws a lurch in this. Yes, eventually, that type of taxation needs to be examined and potentially made more efficient (sorry uptowners). But Katrina was unforeseen in so many ways, and so I support 100% using federal funds to rebuild these services along with everything else.
I completely support the feds coming in and doing whatever it takes. My initial point is that the rhetoric needs to change or the rest of the country is going to be even more turned off. Part of the problem is that most Washington politicians (from other areas) and average dick and janes haven’t seen the destruction first hand. I’m not sure how anyone could see the enormity of the destruction and not want the government at all levels to do more.
We still have an empty lot where the World Trade Center buildings once stood - you think you have it bad?
We still have an empty lot where the World Trade Center buildings once stood - you think you have it bad?
Posted by: Rudy at February 2, 2006 11:11 AM
That was a joke… right? Somebody tell me Rudy was kidding. Cuz I’m gaggin’ thinking anybody could possibly try to compare an empty lot to the City of New Orleans.
Polimom
Actually, yes, Rudy.
A.
RE: “empty lot”.
I took it to mean that it’s 2006, five years(almost) after 911. Bush said they would rebuild there, too and they can’t even agree on what to put there. Hope you have better luck!
Look at what Rudy really said though….take the NOLA chip off your shoulder (myself included) and think about it….. 4 1/2 years since the WTC went down and still nothing….and we expect government to move quickly?
Although we can all sit around and say “you promised me this.” “You promised me that.”, and “where is FEMA.” the truch is as mentioned above: nobody knows what to do.
In smoke filled back rooms in Washington there are hushed coversations that nobody wants to see the light of day.
New Orleans is dead. God, Allah, Vodoo, bad karma, or because of the Saints it was wiped off the face of the earth.
Just like EMS continuing CPR on a 93 year old involent who has suffered a heart attack, it’s all for effect people.
Current FISSYNC modeling projections (take Sim City & pump about $16,000,000 dollars and 5 blade servers into it) estimate a return to pre katrina
infastructure and population at….wait for it… 2094.
When allowed to run out over a 3 week period to advance to 2094 it revealed some startling data trends.
1) The commercial infastructure changes are dramatic.
The white collar professional streams are gone. I MEAN GONE… 73% percent reduction in MBA/Advanced study education requirements. Most of the streams have been replaced with “blue collar” high school / 2 Year college education in the petro - chemical fields and supporting infastructure.
What can you extrapolate from the data?
The people who come back are the people who HAVE to come back. Those risk takers who like to hang off of a piece of steel in the middle of the North Atlantic. They have the capital and the resources to make it happen. Oil baby, It’s all about the oil. Paper & Computers Don’t mix well with lake water is appears. They’ve relocated, They’ve moved on to higher ground.
What about the lower wards….
There gone also…
We tried to rebuild the lower wards 15 times. Changing data, series and effect modulation, resouce alocation, Etc. Etc…
The only way we could get a self sustaining viable Eco was to pump 53% of allocated funds to date into this project alone. You got it… double the levies. “build it and they will come”. We can do that you Say? Deconstruct and reconstruct took 8 years and cost 21% off allocated funding.
Not going to happen…Look for an oil refinery coming to your neighborhood soon.
What’s the upside,
Tourism!
The French Quater show’s dramtic increase in city revenues (33% increase in service and hospitality sector)and physical footprint expansion. Won’t be needing those office buildings anymore. Anybody ever been to St. Augustine? There you go…
Whats up with the amusement park that keeps poping up??? Six Flags of New orleans? /chuckles to self.
Anyway to sum things up.
Can you rebuild NO? No.
Can you reinvent NO? Yes
Does anybody have a clue how? Yes
But nobody in is going to talk about it… yet.
Dan - I’m with you on this for the most part. As a general rule, society has become far too dependent. And I can’t think of a better example of how badly big bureaucracies function than Katrina. The waiting…waiting…waiting… is absolutely killing people - sometimes literally.
People should be able to get going… and I think they would, if anybody would ever come up with a straight answer.
Is that it for the money? For the levees? I think it probably is, at least in terms of direct rebuilding help.
But even if that is it from the government, people are still stuck waiting… waiting… waiting… and now it’s for the FEMA floodmaps (as NO_DOC said).
It’s mind-boggling, and cruel beyond belief to people who are hanging on in places like Houston or Atlanta, unable to commit to a future in a new place without answers about the old.
The dependence - the waiting on a handout - did not sprout in a vacuum, particularly not post-Katrina. It’s a function of the government at all levels, who are being totally irresponsible by not getting their acts together.
(just my humble opinion)
-Polimom
The government is disallowing people to clean up their own back yards by forcing them out on Fema’s schedule. If you sneak onto your property at night you might get shot by the cops. Forty years ago we got by fine with out outside help - every one was in the same boat.
Laurie
New Orlean’s floods once every 30 years; Louisiana has an earthquake once every 30 years.
Laurie
Rudy: Yes, it is too bad that your NYC politicians are as capable at stalemating each other as the ones we have down here, and that you still have that sad and empty lot. But in response to, “You think you have it bad?”
The Picayune ran an interesting graphic a while back, superimposing the outline of Manhattan on a flood map of New Orleans and giving some figures. The essential fact is that the area that flooded in New Orleans is over seven times as big as the whole of Manhattan Island.
Does that put it in perspective for you?
Where are our volcanoes exactly?
We do have them.
Whether submerged - we had ancient volcanic activity!
En La Louisiane’ voila’?
Merci beaucoups bitte shane.
Laurie
Going back to the basic premise of this debate, saying that New Orleans experienced something like Katrina with Betsy is like saying the US experienced something like 9/11 with the Oklahoma City bombing. Betsy was awful, but there’s no comparison with Katrina.
Among the huge differences are that most of the city didn’t flood with Betsy, and very few houses were actually destroyed from Betsy (flooding does not equal “lost”). So repairing homes was a possibility for more people, and people actually could find places to stay in the city while they did the rebuilding. Not the case now.
Regarding the idea that everyone picked themselves up by their own bootstraps in ‘65, I did find this quote about the situation in New Orleans post Betsy on the Wiki encylopedia (don’t know the original information source):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Betsy
“Those who did not have family or friends with dry homes had to sleep in the shelters at night and forage for supplies during the day, while waiting for the federal government to provide emergency relief in the form of trailers.”
Now THAT sounds familiar.
Re: corrupt politicians, ‘xcuse me?
Women weren’t allowed to vote to 1921.
Blacks weren’t allowed to vote until until 1967.
This is small stuff when you consider that
only the nobles were allowed to make decision for the entire region.
That’s right, the people with the most money
in the township made all the fuckin’ decisions
for absolutely every one around.
You had no voice!
This is not a southern thing!
Corrupt politicians my ass you have ‘em in your own back yard!
There were also less people back then to vote on things.
That’s if they weren’t forced to the polls and
shot for not voting for the right person.
People were also much more likely to be
illiterate, politicians included!
Again, not a Southern Thing!
Laurie